Safety

Gun Discovered on School Bus in Florida

DEFUNIAK SPRINGS, Fla. — A second-grader who brought an unloaded gun onto a school bus here on Friday apparently had no malicious motives, authorities said.

The Walton County Sheriff’s Office issued a news release about the Dec. 1 incident on Tuesday. The school bus was transporting children home from an elementary school when, near the end of the route, a student who saw the weapon in another student’s bag reported it to the driver.

The Sheriff’s Office said that the gun was a 0.32-caliber single-action revolver. No ammunition was found in the gun or in the possession of the 7-year-old student who brought it aboard the bus.

The Sheriff’s Office said in the news release that it had “no reason to believe the student had malicious intent when bringing the weapon to school.”

“At no time during this investigation did we believe there was a threat to the school or that an arrest was necessary,” Walton County Sheriff Michael Adkinson said.

The incident was still under investigation as of Tuesday. The Sheriff’s Office said that any punishment would be handled by the Walton County School District, and the student’s family was contacted.

“One of our main priorities as an agency is to protect the children in our county,” Adkinson added. “However, we also pride ourselves in protecting families from humiliation and not invading the privacy of those affected by these occurrences.”

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